New York City Council Progressive Caucus

Overall, over the last five years contract costs have increased at nearly twice the rate of overall budget spending, reaching over ten billion in spent public funds. We need increased oversight of private contracts and consulting costs.

Many employers in New York City and across the country routinely use credit reports to discriminate against job applicants with poor credit histories. This puts people in a cruel Catch-22.

It is clear that this administration has a double standard when it comes to accountability. Poor and working families must prove their need, at every step, in order to receive even the bare minimum of assistance.

The truth matters. That's why I am working with my colleague Jumaane Williams, the Brennan Center for Justice, and other groups on legislation to establish an NYPD Inspector General.

NYC businesses, especially those that receive city subsidies, must do something to alleviate the hardships faced by our city's poorest families. The Living Wage bill is the first step in a process that can ensure that this happens.

In the wake of Citizens United, Americans have a choice: sit back and watch our democracy erode, or work to undo the decision and restore individual rights in the face of the false notion of "corporate personhood."

For the last two months, the family of Private Danny Chen, his friends, and the Chinese-American community in New York City have had only one question: what happened to Danny?

The benefits of living wage laws are not abstract. They are not just about money or development or investment. They are about doing what is right, just, and fair.

Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD acted with cowardice by trying to use the cloak of night, while people slept, as a shield from the highly questionable tactics they engaged in during their raid on Zuccotti Park.

It's not just our legislative fights and our progressive principles that make us part of the "new progressive movement." It's also a style of politics that is infused with hopeful energy, and partners with community members.

When I first made the decision to visit the Occupy Wall Street encampment, I was skeptical. However, what I -- and now thousands of New Yorkers -- have found at Zuccotti Park is an undeniable energy and spirit.

Summertime in Brooklyn should be a carefree time, a time for rest and relaxation with family and friends. Tragically, it has become a season of bloodshed for too many of our young people.

The mayor spoke to the need to attract tourists, college graduates and white-collar entrepreneurs, but we heard nothing about how we can create living-wage jobs for New Yorkers.

The NY City Council's Progressive Caucus has introduced a plan to place a temporary city/state income tax surcharge on the wealthiest -- precisely the amount of the tax windfall they will get under the new tax plan.

Today, 12 council members are forming the NY City Council Progressive Caucus. Bloomberg has done little to confront inequality, preferring instead a trickle-down economic approach.